Judgment (video game)
| designer = Masao Shirosaki | programmer = Yutaka Ito | artist = Naoki Someya | writer = | composer = Ludwig Göransson Nathan Matthew David | series = Yakuza | platforms = PlayStation 4 | released = | genre = Action-adventure | modes = Single-player }} Judgment }} is an action-adventure video game developed and published by Sega for the PlayStation 4. A spin off to the ''Yakuza'' series, the game initially began development in 2015 under the codename Project Judge. It was released on December 13, 2018 in Japan, and on June 25, 2019 worldwide. The game follows lawyer-turned-detective Takayuki Yagami as he and his allies explore a case involving dead bodies whose eyes were removed. The player controls Yagami in the fictional Tokyo district of Kamurocho, where he fights thugs and yakuza while carrying out side missions which involving chasing, stealth and searching for clues. The game was written by Toshihiro Nagoshi who wanted to write a new type of story which contrasted the team's work in Yakuza with a detective case. As a result, the game was created to be accessible to detective-game newcomers. Singer and actor Takuya Kimura was cast to play Yagami both in facial features and Japanese voice acting. Due to popular demand, the game was given an English voice-acting option; a number of languages were placed to attract more gamers. Alexandros performed two songs in the game. Judgment was withdrawn from the Japanese market in March 2019 after the arrest of Pierre Taki, one of the game's actors. During the process of localizing Judgment for international markets, Taki's likeness was removed and his vocal performance replaced. The game received a generally positive response from critics, with many praising the game's plot and side content but criticizing the simplicity of its investigation mechanics. Judgment has been a commercial success, winning two awards with the possibility of a sequel. Gameplay Judgment is an action-adventure game with a third-person perspective. The game follows private detective Takayuki Yagami (Takuya Kimura ) as he investigates a serial-murder case in Kamurocho, a fictional district of Tokyo, Japan previously featured in the Yakuza franchise. When asked about similarities between Judgment and other Yakuza titles, series creator Toshihiro Nagoshi said that "the location and assets might be the same, but the gameplay and story here are drastically different". Judgment features a similar combat system to that of Yakuza 0, where players can change between two different fighting styles at will: crane-style, focused on fighting groups of enemies, and tiger-style, which is focused on fighting individuals. Yagami also incorporates parkour elements, such as wall-running and leapfrogging, in his fighting style. The game also features an investigation mode, where the player must search a scene for clues and evidence of a crime. Players must infiltrate areas with lock picking and disguises to gather information or find objects of interest. The game also has sections where the player must pursue a suspect. These take the form of tailing sequences, where players must follow a suspect while avoiding being seen, and chase sequences, where players must avoid oncoming obstacles while running to catch a fleeing suspect. Yagami can take on a number of "side cases" in addition to the main storyline, similar to the "substories" in other Yakuza games. He can pick up side cases by looking at the noticeboard in his office, asking at Genda Law Office or Bar Tender, or by walking the streets of Kamurocho. Like other Yakuza titles, the player can find minigames and side activities scattered around Kamurocho, which include drone racing, a virtual reality board game, and fully playable versions of Space Harrier, Fantasy Zone, Fighting Vipers, Motor Raid, Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown, and Puyo Puyo. Plot Former attorney Takayuki Yagami becomes a private detective in Tokyo's Kamurocho district in 2018 and accepts investigation requests with his partner, ex-Tojo clan member Masaharu Kaito. After obtaining money from a debt-ridden detective Yagami accepts a murder case concerning Matsugane clan captain Kyohei Hamura, who is suspected of stabbing a Kyorei clan member to death and removing his eyes. Yagami investigates, and proves Hamura's innocence. He suspects that Hamura is working with the killer, whom Yagami calls the Mole and who is behind recent killings and eye removals of Yakuza members in Kamurocho. Yagami investigates a brothel where one of the victims was last seen and encounters Hamura, who orders him to stop investigating the Mole. Yagami returns to his office to find that the Mole has killed Masamichi Shintani, his colleague and teacher. Yagami finds a recent call on Shintani's phone for Dr. Yoji Shono of the Advanced Drug Development Center (ADDC), which he had investigated in 2015 for the death of patient Koichi Waku and cleared accused worker Shinpei Okubo. However, Okubo was arrested shortly thereafter for allegedly murdering his girlfriend. Guilt-ridden, Yagami resigned from his law firm. He questions ADDC director Ryusuke Kido about Shintani's phone call, to no avail. After further investigation, Yagami meets Shigeru Kajihira at a Kyorei clan hideout. Kajihira reveals a failed plan to seize land around the ADDC for redevelopment which was foiled when researchers claimed to have discovered AD-9, a potential cure for Alzheimer's disease. Kajihira asks Yagami to investigate the death of former ADDC vice-director Toru Hashiki. Yagami is brought to the public prosecutor's office for interrogation, and is informed that Kazuya Ayabe, a crooked cop who was Yagami's informant, has been arrested on suspicion of being the Mole; Yagami, however, is unconvinced. He and Kaito find Hamura hiding out in an underground illegal gambling den and question him about his connection to the Mole and other possible suspects. Yagami concludes that Dr. Shono may be organizing the murders before Hamura is rescued by Matsugane clan members. He theorizes that the Mole's killings are actually human experiments to test the effectiveness of AD-9, and Waku, Hashiki and Shintani's deaths were failed experiments. Yagami also theorizes that Okubo did not kill his girlfriend; she was killed by Dr. Shono to cover up the experiments. Kaito is taken hostage by Hamura, forcing Yagami to storm a Matsugane hideout. Yagami finds Hamura and Kaito, defeating and capturing Hamura with the help of Mitsugu Matsugane. Yagami and Matsugane transport Hamura to a Kyorei clan hideout and interrogate him, learning that Hamura worked as a human trafficker for the ADDC and helped frame Ayabe for Shintani's murder. The Mole appears and shoots at Hamura, but Matsugane shields him and is killed. Hamura reveals that the Mole is Mitsuru Kuroiwa, a detective in the Metropolitan Organized Crime division, and gives Yagami definitive evidence that the ADDC participated in Shintani's murder. During Ayabe's trial, Japanese Vice-minister of Health Kaoru Ichinose covertly arranges a hit on Kuroiwa. Kuroiwa kills his assailants and storms the ADDC. Yagami finds Kuroiwa taking Shono hostage, intending to force him to finish developing AD-9. Yagami defeats Kuroiwa and the police surround them, killing Kuroiwa when he tries to kill Shono. Shono injects himself with a new version of AD-9 and dies from its side effects after his eyes turn blue. Dr. Kido confirms Shono's human experiments at Ayabe's trial, and the blue-eye sign was why Shono had their eyes removed. The court acquits Ayabe; chief prosecutor Kunihiko Morita and Ichinose are imprisoned for their involvement, Kajihira is placed under investigation. Okubo is freed after three years on death row, and Yagami and Kaito decide to resume being ordinary private detectives.Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios (June 25, 2019). Judgement PlayStation 4. Sega. Development Judgment began development in 2015. It was first hinted at in a Sega live stream by series director Toshihiro Nagoshi, who called it "something completely different". Nagoshi, who conceived of the game several years before its release, worked hard to release it as quickly as possible. It was scheduled to be on Japanese store shelves in December, with a planned Western release in 2019. Hosokawa and Nagoshi refrained from calling Judgment as a spin-off from Yakuza, despite its development by the same team, because of its different narrative. Before the game's Japanese release, Sega released a demo of Judge Eyes on the Japanese PlayStation Network. After the release of Yakuza 6: The Song of Life, the developers wanted a new direction for its main characters after the departure of yakuza Kazuma Kiryu (who made his final appearance as a protagonist in that game), and producer Kazuki Hosokawa decided to use a detective. Judgment was announced under the Japanese title of Judge Eyes on September 10, 2018 on the PlayStation Lineup Tour, shortly before the 2018 Tokyo Game Show. The announcement was made to market the game for the holidays in Japan; it had finished production, and the team was busy debugging it. It uses the Dragon engine to produce graphics similar to Yakuza 6. The team enhanced the engine to improve character design, changing the game's lighting to emphasize its theme of "legal suspense". The staff decided to explore the fictional city of Kamurocho (from Yakuza), with a different approach. Real-world shops, such as Don Quijote, were also used (similar to Yakuza) to impart realism. Nagoshi said that he enjoyed the finished product. A "friendship system" was developed to solidify Yagami's characterization as he forms bonds with a number of non-playable characters and develops how the character fits into the setting. His traits are balanced in the main story and the sidequests for fans who wanted a balance between seriousness and comedy; the former is explored in the main story, and the latter is featured in sidequests. According to Nagoshi, the primary influences on the detective character were Korean films. Although Hosokawa wanted to provide gamers with as much content as Yakuza 0 (30–35 hours to finish the main story and over 100 hours to complete all of Yagami's cases and friendships), he said that the team refrained from using returning characters from the Yakuza series. Since Yagami is a lawyer, they wanted to give players the option of emulating his actions by choosing his thoughts. Some segments involving friendship were made to emulate dating sims. According to Nagoshi, it was tricky to decide how expansive or difficult the detective work should be. The game was made to be accessible to the casual player, but also challenging. The detective story was also challenging, since the cast had to follow the Mole case. Action segments were made for more-skilled gamers, making them carefully plan the abilities to give Yagami. The game uses two theme songs by the Japanese band Alexandros. Nagoshi showed them a demo of the game (which enabled them to write a song quickly), and spent considerable time choosing the right band for the songs. A game demo became available in August 2019 for English-speaking regions. A three-CD soundtrack was released in Japan on April 15, 2019. Writing and localization Early in Judgment production, the Sega staff considered using a star to develop Yagami and chose Takuya Kimura. Nagoshi remembers being surprised and thrilled when Kimura was selected (because of the number of plot twists they could use with him), but also concerned about fans considering the game lighthearted with the stylish Kimura compared with the team's previous work. A number of elements of the character were produced with Kimura's approval. Since detective dramas are not well known in gaming, Hosokawa wanted Yagami to stand out in the game and creating the new character was a challenge. For a protagonist to properly succeeded Kiryu, the developer wanted Yagami "more grounded to fit the noir vibe". According to Nagoshi, "when you're writing a story and there's a really solid character that's been around for a long time, the character dictates what happens next ... In contrast to that, with Yagami, at the start of development we didn't really have anything attached to him at all. It was a challenge, but also an opportunity for a development team that has been working so long on the same series." The team was inspired by realistic detectives in portraying Yagami's life and work. The plot originally focused on romance, which was eliminated because Nagoshi thought it would affect the game's courtroom-thriller feel. Sega announced that for the first time, the franchise would receive an English dub; other languages would also be provided. The company's rationale for the dub and the short timeframe before release was increased fan demand, and the staff said that the game's Western version would be identical to the Japanese one. Scott Strichart, localization producer for the Yakuza series, ordered the English-language release to have two subtitle tracks: one with Japanese audio and English subtitles matching the Japanese translation, and the other matching the English dub. In scripting, Strichart insisted that the English actors keep using Japanese honorifics to retain the Japanese cast's impact. Greg Chun was pleasantly surprised when he was selected to voice Yagami in Judgment, since he was familiar with the franchise. Chun said in the game's announcement that "I'm super psyched to be a part of this game", and liked the character he had seen thus far. He called his work in the game satisfying: "It really did require me to let go of the tricks that you use to push a performance through, and I really did need to fall back on authenticity and genuine groundedness". Although he found the faithfulness to the original Japanese audio challenging, Chun was pleased with his character's balance of seriousness and comedy; however, the game's screaming segments were difficult. Noting that fans tended to choose the original Japanese audio, Chun suggested that they try the English dub to test his voice. He was surprised by Yagami's deep character arc (involving himself in the present while dealing with his past life as a lawyer), and said that he would never forget the role. Matthew Mercer liked voicing Kuroiwa, but found the character's different tones challenging. Crispin Freeman enjoyed his work because Kaito was likeable. Reception | title = Review Scores | USG = 4/5 | IGN = 8.2/10 | GI = 8/10 | GSpot = 7/10 | rev1 = Hobby Consolas | rev1Score = 90/100 | Fam = 37/40 | GRadar = 3/5 | Destruct = 7.5/10 | VG = 8/10 | award1 = Excellence Prize | award1Pub = Famitsu Awards | award2 = Award for Excellence | award2Pub = Japan Game Awards }} Judgment received "generally favourable" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic. Famitsu gave the game a score of 37 out of 40, with ratings of 9, 10, 9 and 9. Although its gameplay was praised, critics had mixed opinions about its case-solving elements. Hobby Consolas praised the game for relying on multiple types of gameplay, giving the Yakuza spin-off more variety. According to a VideoGamer.com reviewer, gamers attracted to the Yakuza series would enjoy Judgment because of its similarities in action. He noted that the fighting system was superior to Sega's latest game, Yakuza 6: The Song of Life, and would attract fans; the varied side missions gave players far more playing time. Although a GameInformer reviewer liked the action, they found the tailing missions frustrating and the investigation areas do not penalize a player for failing them. USGamer said that the tailing missions might drag, but the new chasing missions were more entertaining. Destructoid agreed, disliking the former but enjoying the latter; the reviewer felt that the action scenes were not difficult. Tristan Ogilvie of IGN praised the game's combat system and diversified side content, criticizing its shallow investigation mechanics: "There's surprisingly little room given to make your own decisions". Edmond Tran of GameSpot called the game's tailing and chasing sections "dull, slow and arduous", and called the investigation sections "incredibly straightforward". GamesRadar+ writer Bradley Russel criticized the core gameplay as "lacking in its execution" and over-relying on combat, rather than investigation. The plot was generally well-received. Because it introduced a new cast instead of reusing characters, GameInformer found the story "refreshing" and called Yagami's investigations intriguing. USGamer also praised the story for standing on its own, despite Yagami's similarities to Kazuma Kiryu; the new lead character had his own way of life. A Destructoid reviewer said that despite the game's similarity to Yakuza (due to its balance of seriousness and comedy), Judgment had a unique narrative which they felt was on a par with Hollywood films. B. Russell praised the story, calling it "potentially one of the best in the medium". VideoGamer liked the game for using deep, moral themes which would entertain players for many hours. GameSpot praised the storyline and Yagami and Kaito, calling them "genuinely likable characters". A HobbyConsolas reviewer noted that Sega added subtitles for the first time for languages other than English (making Judgment far more accessible), but Yagami was a less appealing character than Kiryu. VideoGamer liked the original Japanese cast's striking performances, despite his initial preference for an English dub. The English voice actors' performances were praised; Ogilvie called the game's English voice acting "excellent", but noticed an inconsistent lack of English lip-syncing. Sales According to Media Create, the game had a strong opening in its first week in Japan with sales of 148,246 copies. This made it the most successful release for a new IP for the eighth generation of video game consoles in the country, although this record was later taken by Death Stranding. On January 13, 2019, Media Create increased its sales figures to 240,293. Producer Daisuke Sato said that Western sales of Judgement had exceeded expectations. After Judgment worldwide success, pushsquare.com said that they would like to see a sequel again feature Yagami's life. GamesRadar also found Yagami a character worthy of appearing in Judgment sequels, since his skills rival those of the Yakuza lead characters. Although producer Kazuki Hosokawa said in April 2019 that the studio planned to port the game to the PC for wider audience appeal, this was unconfirmed. Awards Judgment received the Excellence Prize at the Famitsu Awards, and the Award for Excellence at the Japan Game Awards, and was nominated for "PlayStation Game of the Year" at the 2019 Golden Joystick Awards. Controversy 's model before his removal]] Sega halted Japanese sales of the game on March 13, 2019, after Pierre Taki (a Japanese actor whose voice and likeness were used for the character of Kyohei Hamura) was arrested by officers of the Narcotics Control Department of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare for cocaine possession and use. Sega did not comment on whether Taki's arrest would affect Judgment Western release. According to the NCD, Taki had been under investigation since the previous year following tips from unnamed sources and was asked to submit a urine sample. After Taki's arrest, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio producer Daisuke Sato tweeted that he would not allow Taki's arrest to interrupt the game's success or allow the actor's contribution to the game to be deleted. CyberConnect2 president Hiroshi Matsuyama criticized companies that stop marketing their products if a person connected with their work is arrested. Sega later said that Taki's voice and likeness would be replaced, but the game's planned Western release date was unchanged. The character's new design was not based on any actor. Sega announced that a new version would be released in Japan on July 18, 2019, with a new character model and actor Miō Tanaka replacing Taki for the role of Kyohei Hamura. Imported sales of Judgment rose in Japan when the game was withdrawn from Japanese store shelves; about 97 percent of its stock was sold, and it reached number three in Amazon's sales rankings. Nagoshi stated that although the sudden interest in the game due to the controversy was disappointing, he was "glad in any case". Notes References External links *Official website *Official website (Japanese) Category:2018 video games Category:Action-adventure games Category:Organized crime video games Category:PlayStation 4 games Category:PlayStation 4-only games Category:Sega beat 'em ups Category:Single-player video games Category:Video game sequels Category:Video games developed in Japan Category:Video games set in Tokyo Category:Yakuza (series) Category:Video games scored by Ludwig Göransson Category:Video games scored by Nathan Matthew David Category:Video games scored by Stephen Hilton Category:Video games scored by Kazuma Jinnouchi Category:Video games scored by Sven Faulconer